Lance Bass confirms to PEOPLE that he and Reichen Lehmkuhl have called it quits once and for all.

"We broke up last week," Bass tells PEOPLE. "But we're really good friends. Nothing bad at all – nothing bad at all to say."

The couple had announced in early December that they were splitting though trying to work on their relationship. "We remain the best of friends," they told PEOPLE in an exclusive statement Dec. 4. "Please respect our privacy as we try to work things out during this difficult time."

Former 'N Sync star Bass, 27, first revealed his relationship with model-actor-Amazing Race winner Lehmkuhl, 33, when he declared on the cover of PEOPLE in July that he was gay.

"I'm more liberated and happy than I've been my whole life," Bass said at the time. "I'm just happy."